Course Description

Who has not felt the lure of the open road? Why do the words “road trip” still excite fantasy and make one want to drop everything and go? Even in the age of Covid and social distancing—when the destinations to which we would travel have been closed—the allure of the road beckons. We find that the experience of the road is not necessarily in the arrival at our destination, but moreso in the journey to arrive. With due attention to the diverse conditions of American wayfarers, this course will explore six major road narratives and four classic road films. We also have a companion playlist of American road songs, that you might study, and to which I welcome your additions. Readings, writing assignments, and class discussion will encourage students to achieve junior/senior-level skills of analysis and expression.

Materials

Listening:

American Road Stories playlist

Reading:

Mark Z. Danielewski — Only Revolutions

Patricia Highsmith — The Price of Salt

Zora Neale Hurston — Jonah’s Gourd Vine

Jack Kerouac — On the Road

Cormac McCarthy — The Road

N. Scott Momaday — The Way to Rainy Mountain

John Steinbeck — The Grapes of Wrath

Walt Whitman — Song of the Open Road

Optional Reading:

Simone De Beauvoir — America By Day

Jack London — The Road

Mary Miller — The Last Days of California

Colson Whitehead — The Underground Railroad

Viewing:

Easy Rider

Magic Trip: Ken Kesey’s Search for a Kool Place

Smoke Signals

Thelma & Louise

Schedule of Assignments

Week 1: 8/18, 20        Introduction, Whitman, “Song of the Open Road”; 250-word road narrative (due Thursday)

Week 2: 8/25, 27        Hurston, Jonah’s Gourd Vine

Week 3: 9/01, 03        Hurston, Jonah’s Gourd Vine, Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

Week 4: 9/08, 10        Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

Week 5: 9/15, 17        Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath

Week 6: 9/22, 24        Highsmith, The Price of Salt                            Essay 1 due

Week 7: 9/29, 10/01   Highsmith, The Price of Salt

Week 8: 10/06, 08      Kerouac, On the Road

Week 9: 10/13, 15      Kerouac, On the Road

Week 10: 10/20, 22    Kesey’s Magic Bus Trip, Easy Rider

Week 11: 10/27, 29    Momaday, The Way to Rainy Mountain

Week 12: 11/03, 05    Thelma & Louise, Smoke Signals                    Essay 2 due

Week 13: 11/10, 12    McCarthy, The Road

Week 14: 11/17, 19    McCarthy, The Road

Week 15: 11/24 , 26   Thanksgiving Break

Week 16: 12/1, 03      Danielewski, Only Revolutions, Review          Essay 3 due

Final Exam: Thursday, December 10